Combination minnow bucket and trap



Feb. 24, 1953 H. F. RUNKLE COMBINATION MINNOW BUCKET AND TRAP Filed Feb. 28, 1949 INVENTOR. flan/y Ff Fwy/We Patented Feb. 24, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMBINATION: MINNOW BUCKET AND TBAB Harry E; Kunkle, Kansas City; Kans.

ApplibatiomFebruam 28, 1949, Serial No. 78,873

1.. Claim. 1

Thlstinventiorr relates to" fishing e uipment: and

more particularly: to; a combination. minnow bucket and trap; the prim ary object being toprovideanimprovedgate normally-closingan opening formedv in the bucketthrough which. the minnow passes. the gate heing provided with means for rendering. the same. buoyant in water tothe end that as the. device is placed in water, the gate will? automaticallyopen and. again close" automaticall'ywhen thebuckct i's'removed from the water.

It is the most important object of the present invention toprovideafish traphaving a hollow bucket-Iikeb'ody provided with at" least one opening inthe side thereof; that is coveredby a swingab-Ie gate on the innermost face of the bucket, swi'ngably mounted thereon and normally hangingby force of" gravity closed relationship to the: opening; the gate being; additionally supplied with a corkfor' renderingthe entire gate buoyant int water whereby; as thetlbu'oket is placed in a stream or lake; the opening wilt admit minnows and. other" small. fish, and. further whereby, as the bucketr is raised? from the stream, the gate will automatically close and trap the minnows therein;

Other objects of. the present invention relate tot the way in which the bucket opening. ispermanently closed; either by a: latch. on the gate itself or through the-- medium of. a secondary door; the way i-I1-'..Wh-lh the bucketis-made almost entirely from foraminousw material and. provided with. access opening, the.- top thereof; and the; manner in which the fora-minous bucket is used in. connection witlran outer bucket. adapted to contain. water all. to: the. end. that the. entire device. can be, used both a. trap. and. a bait Qther more. minor objects, including details of construction, will. be made clear orbecome apparent as the tollowingfspecification progresses, reference;- being. bad. to the. accompanying drawing, wherein;

1 is. aa top-plan vievv of one form; ofcom bination. minnow bucket and tra-pimade in; ac- GOIdEHCGrWifl-l; present" invention;

Fig. 2' is a; substantially central vertical crosssectional; view taken: on IineI-L-I I. of. Fig.- 1 and lookingin the direction otthe; arrows...

Fig... 3 is a transverse cross=sectiona1z view taken on linerHL-JIL of'Fig 21.

Fig; 4' afragmentary side elevational view showing a modified form of my present' invention; and

Fig. 5 is. a transverse cross-sectional view" taken It appreciated that bait boxes; fish traps and the like have heretofore. been developed, but so far as I am aware in each case, the conventional fish trapis notso formed as to permit usethereoi after the same serves its purpose as a trap in preserving the fish that have been trapped thereby; whereby the same can also" be used as a bait bucket. Suchis the primary object of the device about to be described; and it will beseen that'such advantageous result is obtained-through use of the novel gate structureforming a part of the bucket;

In Figs. I- to 3 inclusive: of the drawing; there is illustrated one form of my" present: invention and in. Figs. 1 and 2, the numeral 101 designates broadly an outer'bucket of any conventional. char:- aoter; preferably cylindrical and provided with a solid bottom t2.

The. top of bucket:- 1.0 is open and a hail M; is swingably secured. to; the side: walls of bucket ID for convenience in use". Bucket:- lll= is formed to receive easily andloosely a second; inner bucket, broadly designated by. the numeral: [6.

Bucket It has a bottom wall 13 that rests directly upon the innermost face of. the wall 12 0t: bucket l0 and a. cylindrical. side wall 20, preferably formed. from. wire mesh orother foraminous materia-li It to be noted, that for pur poses of rigidity, there is; provided. a band. 22 aroundthe bucket 16- adjacent. the bottomv wall i8 and connected thereto.

A dish-like top Wall 26 is provided for the bucket, I16, having. an access. opening, 28 formed therein and covered. by" a lid 3!]. thatfis. hinged thereto: as at. 3.21. The 1111.30; hasalatch M that passes through a. slot. 35 termed. in the top 26, all to the end that upon manipulation of latch 34, the lid 30 may be. swung to. an. open position and will permit the user to insert his. hand! into the bucket toreach, the bait.- therein. It. is to be noted that the Wall. 26 and its lid 30,, are also provided: with. a. plurality of. perforations 3-8 and that the: periphery: of the. wall 25 issecured directly to:- the uppermost. edge of. the foraminous wall 20 in any suitable. manner: such as by; soldering" or use on suitable fastening, elements.

It is to be noted at this point that the particular formation: of the buckets; H1- and *6 as just above: described is; of; no particular: imporr tance to the present inventibn and may varied to suitthe dcsiresof' the user; To this end, the entire bucket 16' may be made"- of foraminous material if desired but in any event there should be provided a bail 4b on the bucket Hi, to permit easy removal thereof from within theconfines of bucket I6 and to aid in the use thereof as a trap.

One or more openings 42 are provided in the foraminous wall 26 of bucket I6 and it is contemplated that there should be at least a pair of diametrically opposed openings 42 provided. A frusto-conical tubular member 44, provided with opposed out-turned annular flanges 46 and 48, is secured directly to the innermost face of the foraminous wall 26 through use of bolts or other fastening elements 49. These fastening means 49 pass through the wall 26 and through the out-turned flange 46 of tubular member 44 as illustrated in Fig. 3 and as shown in this figure, flange 46 circumscribes the opening 42 and positions the tubular member 44 coaxially with the opening 42.

A gate or door, broadly designated by the numeral 56, is secured to the member 44 in a position where gate 56 will normally close the innermost end of member 44 in the manner illustrated in full lines in Fig. 3. Gate 56 includes a hollow, semi-spherical portion 52 provided with a continuous annular out-turned flange 54 at its periphery.

A pair of inwardly projecting ears 56 is formed on the flange 48 at the top thereof and the flange 54 of gate 56 is provided with a loop 56 disposed between the ears 56 as shown in Fig. 2 for rotatably receiving a hinge pin 66 that interconnects the ears 56. The diameter of the portion 52 of gate 50 is substantially'the same as the diameter of the member 44 at the innermost end thereof, all to the end that when gate 56 is in the closed position, all of the portion 52 thereof is confined within the frusto-conical tubular member 44. When gate 56 is in the closed position shown by full lines in Fig. 3, the flange portion 54 thereof, lies flatly against the innermost face of flange 48 of member 44.

A semi-spherical filling 62, made from cork or other material capable of rendering the entire gate 56 buoyant, is disposed within the portion 52 of the gate 56 and held in position therein by a pin or rivet 64 passing through the cork 62 and through the portion 52 of gate 56. A latch for releasably holding the gate 56 in the closed position, shown by full lines in Fig. 3, includes an L-shaped rod 66 that passes rotatably through the wall 26 of bucket I6 and through A manually operable button 66 on the outer- .most end of the .rod 66, permits the rotation of the latter. to the end that the short leg I6 of rod 66 may be swung to and from a position bearing against the flange 54 of gate 56 at a point diametrically opposed to hinge pin 66.

When the device is placed in use, bucket I6 is removed from the bucket I6 and through use of the bail 46, bucket I6 is lowered into the water for the purpose of trapping relatively small fish such as minnows to be used as bait. Immediately upon such immersion of the bucket I6 into the water, gate 56 will swing toward the open position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3 whenever the latch rod 66 is unlocked. The cork filling 52 lends sufficient buoyancy to the entire gate 56 to cause the latter to swing fully to the open position. All the while bucket I6 is within the water, all of the gates 56 that are provided within wall 26 will remain in the open position and the fish will enter openings 42, pass through the ,tubular members 44 and be trapped within the confines of bucket I6. When the user raises the bucket I6 and removes the same from the waters, gate 56 will swing by force of gravity, to a position closing the member 44, whereupon gate 56 can be locked in place by manipulating rod 65.

In the form of my invention illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, the form of buckets I6 and I6 may be the same as above described'and illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. Such inner bucket I6 will likewise be provided with a foraminous side wall I66, having one or more openings provided therein and defined by a grommet I62, that is U-shaped in cross-section as shown in Fig. 5 and secured directly to wall I66 through use of bolts or other fastening elements I64. The innermost'flange of the grommet I62, has a slot I66 at the uppermost edge thereof that is bridged by a cross pin I68 for pivotally receiving a loop II6 forming a part of agate, broadly designated by the numeral I I2.

Gate IIZ includes a washer-like member II 4 having an upwardly extending ear the uppermost end whereof is formed the aforesaid loop iI6. Member II4 is provided with an inturned annular flange H6, and a disc-shaped cork I26 is mounted within the washer member IE4 and through press-fit held in place therein. The outside diameter of the cork I26 is substantially the same as the diameter of the opening through grommet I62 to theend that when gate I12 is in the closed position illustrated in Figs. 4. and 5, cork I26 will enter grommet I62.

The operation of the modification .shown in Figs. 4 and 5 is the same as that of Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive and need not be repeated. However, in lieu of the use of the locking means for holding gate II2 in the closed position, there is provided a disc I 22 on the outermost face of the wall I66 swingably secured to one of the fastening elements I64, as shown in Fig. 4, all to the end that when the foraminous bucket is raised from the water, th opening through grommet I62 may be closed by swinging disc I22 to the closed position. A relatively tight fit is provided between disc I22 and its fastening element I64 and furthermore, as disc I22 covers the other fastening element I64, the same will remain in the closed position.

It is apparent from the foregoing that in either of the two modifications disclosed and described, after the innermost foraminous basket or trap is raised from the water with fish therein, the user can place the same within the outer bucket I6 and by filling the latter with water, can keep the bait alive and can removethe same as used through opening of the lid 36.

Manifestly, the present invention may take many forms in addition to the two modifications herein disclosed, and those changes and modifications as fairly come within the scope of the V appended claims, are contemplated hereby.

Having thus described the invention, I claim: In a fish trap, a hollow body having an opening in'one wall thereof; a frusto-conical, tubular member in the body having a large end and a small end, and a pair of spaced, out-turned, annular flanges, the flange proximal to said large end of the member engaging the inner face of said wall and being secured thereto, said member being aligned with said opening; a gate for said member including a hollow, semi-spherical portion adapted to fit into the member at said small end thereof; a continuous out-turned, annular flange on said portion of the gate bear- II6 upon I ing against the other of said flanges of the member when said portion is within the member; means hingedly securing the flange of said portion of the gate to said other flange of the member; a latch including an L-shaped rod having one leg thereof rotatably mounted in said flanges of the member and a second leg adapted to bear against the flange of said portion of the gate for holding the gate closed; an operating button on said one leg exteriorly of the body for rotating 10 HARRY F. RUNKLE. 15.

6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the flle of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 171,446 Sullivan Dec. 21, 1875 194,253 Lasater Aug. 14, 1877 302,161 Rudolph July 15, 1884 616,924 Heberling Jan. 3, 1899 710,020 Short Sept. 30, 1902 1,446,609 Baylor Feb. 2'7, 1923 1,607,443 Cormier Nov. 16, 1926 2,539,412 Faris Jan. 30, 1951 

